National News Roundup

The Public Broadcasting Service has established an advisory panel of
educators and broadcasters for its elementary/secondary service.

Committee members, chosen by their respective institutions, will try
to identify educational needs that public television and instructional
technology can fill, pbs officials said in announcing the creation of
the new panel.

Included on the 26-member committee are representatives of major
education6groups, members of the pbs board of directors, officials of
national and regional public-television organizations, and
public-television station managers.

Among the prominent educators named to the group are Gregory R.
Anrig, president of the Educational Testing Service; Gordon Cawelti,
executive director of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development; and Jerry L. Evans, state superintendent of public
instruction for Idaho.

The next civilian to fly on a space shuttle will be a teacher, the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration has reaffirmed.

Once the agency's "backlog of high-priority missions" has been
reduced and the shuttles' capability for "safe, reliable operation" has
been proven, nasa officials said in a statement Jan. 12, "first
priority will be given to a 'Teacher in Space' in fulfillment of
space-education plans."

The agency has received numerous queries about the status of plans
to put a teacher and a journalist into space, officials said.

Civilians were barred from such missions after the shuttle
Challenger, carrying Sharon Christa McAuliffe, a high-school teacher
from Concord, N.H., and a crew of six professional astronauts, exploded
on Jan. 28, 1986.

Barbara R. Morgan, an elementary-school teacher from McCall, Idaho,
who was Ms. McAuliffe's backup, is awaiting her chance to fly when nasa
issues the call, said Pamela Bacon, coordinator of the Teacher-in-Space
program. "She has always wanted to do it and she still does," Ms. Bacon
said last week.

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